From yard sale treasure to custom knife....

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Ok so my GF has this thing about buying me old rusty bent up tools from her yard sale jaunts. A couple of weeks ago she comes home all excited with this old rusty rasp that she got for 50 cents! She is so proud of her "bargain" that I didn't have the heart to throw it in the scrap pile with the bent c-clamps, twisted saws and broken screwdrivers. So for your view pleasure.......

My present!


After annealing and grinding the serrations off...


Laying out the design


Rough cutting to shape (not shown hardening and tempering)





Handle roughed out and attached


Handle finished and fit to my hand of course!


Family photo
 
Very cool. What did you do to harden and temper it? This kind of project is interesting me more and more lately

Annealing was the toughest as it was too big to do with a torch. Luckily I remembered one of Boris's threads where he drinks a bottle of vodka and pisses in the Weber to make a blast furnace. Seriously I did do it in the weber over charcoal but used a hand pump (for inflating an inflatable boat) to drive the heat up. For annealing you need to get it red hot and until a magnet won't stick to it then let it cool slow. For hardening, I used a map gas torch to heat it up cherry red and then quench it in oil. This makes it hard and brittle so it then needs to be tempered. For tempering it just needs to be warmed back up with the torch till it turns straw colored. This color change is pretty distinct and easy to see.

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That's awesome! You teach lessons? [grin]

Sure, its actually easier than it looks!
 
Ever do it from a rail road spike ?
Not sure what RR spikes are made from, most old files are pretty high quality carbon steel that make for great knife making as you can harden them to hold a great edge. This one after honing I did the Ginsu test and cut a can, nail and flash hider off an AK and still was able to cut a tomato and make thousands of Julian fries.....
 
Lol .
I forget what there made from my self . But my shop teach used to have us make knifes from them . We would hammer them flat folding it over on to it self. Used to hold the edge really good.
 
I made a few knives from files with my uncle. They vanished over the years. They where fun to make.
Wish I had a,work space to do projects.
 
That will for sure ensure more yard sale treasures being bought for you. Looks great, what did you use to shape that, Id image a wheel grinder, but what else?
 
File material is good high carbon. I use a torch and canola oil to harden. Then anneal in the oven to desired Rockwell.
 
Files are very good steel for knives. During my dad's day when someone made a knife from a file they deliberately left one faint spot where you could barely see a few rows of teeth. That was to show off the fact it was made from good steel.
 
I once found a couple broken pieces of leaf springs in the road. I still have them. When I'm old and bored, I will make them into knives.
 
Very nice. Anyone interested in this should check out the TV show Forged in Fire.

http://www.history.com/shows/forged-in-fire

FORGED IN FIRE features world-class bladesmiths competing against each other to create some of the most iconic edged weapons from history. In each episode, four of the best bladesmiths in the country will come together to put both their skills and reputations on the line. Whether they are making a Japanese katana, a medieval broadsword, or an ancient throwing blade like the chakram, the weapons they forge will be fully functional and lethal works of art and war. The unique histories contained within each weapon will be creatively told during the forging process and the final weapons themselves will be assessed and ruthlessly tested by our panel of expert judges. These dynamic and explosive tests will be individually designed to push the weapons to their absolute limit. One by one, the bladesmiths will be eliminated until only one remains to be crowned the champion.


 
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Forged in Fire is worth a watch. They focus a little too much on the competition instead of the techniques but I learn a little from each show.
 
i hate you people with skills....but like that knife a lot. i could work on it ten years and it would still be a file.
 
Cobra-Damascus-Wedge-14.jpg
 
^^^ nice ^^^
The first time I picked up an oxy acetylene torch and ran a puddle, something happened I didn't expect. I realized I love hot metal. The only reason I don't have my own forge is I have no eye for size and proportion.
 
http://newjerseysteelbaron.com/

Steel is cheap and if your starting out and don't have a forge use the 1084. Its very east to work with.

What steps do you not need to do? Why can you get away without a forge? Or are you saying they can be done with a torch with 1084? I know very little about knife making but it's something I'd like to do.
 
What steps do you not need to do? Why can you get away without a forge? Or are you saying they can be done with a torch with 1084? I know very little about knife making but it's something I'd like to do.

Yes you can heat it with a mapp torch until it is non magnetic and then dip it in oil to quench.


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